IF IT'S AS GROTTY AS IT IS IN 12 MONKEYS, WE'LL STAY PUT

IN THIS ULTIMATE RETREAD DECADE, when movie people are so short on ideas that they remake old TV shows and bad French comedies, give Terry Gilliam points for trying something completely different. When the former Monty Python animator does a remake, it's of the moodiest, most elliptical sci-fi film ever: Chris Marker's 1963 La Jetee. Set in a toxic future, this French collage of photos chases time backward to a painful childhood image. Gilliam's 12 Monkeys is an all-star, megamovie elaboration of this theme--just what you'd expect from the director of that brilliant dark-side retro-futuristic vision, Brazil.